Apple Mac mini with M3 chip could be in development alongside new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models

[Redaktion]

According to Mark Gurman, Apple might be preparing a new Mac mini with the base M3 chip. The M3 Mac mini seems to be under development alongside new 13 and 15 MacBook Air laptops and three MacBook Pros with 13, 15, and 16-inch screen sizes.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-Mac-mini-with-M3-chip-could-be-in-development-alongside-new-MacBook-Air-and-MacBook-Pro-models.739453.0.html

[davidm]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the M3 have an emphasis on AI. The current M2 Ultra is about ½ as fast as a 4090 for applications like LLMs, but since it's unified, Apple can use much more generalized RAM for these operations, and fast RAM is where things really take off.  36GB is already better than the 24GB available in top-end consumer AI capable GPUs, and this is their mainstream offering. 36GB is also suspiciously a lot more than the meagre amounts Apple usually includes, and there really isn't anything else that would call for more than quadrupling RAM.

Apple is apparently pouring billions into AI development, and being able to run decent *standalone* AI would be a compelling feature. Although RAM is cheap for PCs, Intel's VPUs (and probably AMD's) are only 1660 Super level, anything else requires add-ons that are very expensive or RAM limited.

[Ish]

Gurman is a moron and usually wrong far more than he eventually gets things right. But when you pick literally every month out of the year (and the following year) that something is "definitely coming" then you will eventually be right. Can't believe he gets paid for that and that he gets quoted.

My equally as informed prediction: M3 ain't coming until Spring 2024. Where's my paycheck?

Anyway, Apple... drop the MBP13... it is a waste of resources... it shouldn't exist... get rid of it... no one wants it... no one needs it.